[09/04/13 - 10:09 AM]Hitting 10-Week Highs, ABC Ranks No. 1 for the Week in Adults 18-49ABC spins the numbers for the week of August 26-September 1.

[via press release from ABC]

Primetime Ratings Report for the week of August 26, 2013
(Based on National Live + Same Day Program Ratings)

Hitting 10-Week Highs, ABC Ranks No. 1 for the Week in Adults 18-49

ABC Finishes No. 1 for the Summer in Adults 18-49, Gaining 7% and
Standing as the Only Net to Post Year-to-Year Gains with Young Adults

ABC's Special 8pm Monday "Shark Tank" Encore Grows
Week to Week by 12% in Total Viewers and 10% in Adults 18-49

ABC's "Mistresses" is Up in its New Monday 9pm Slot in Viewers and Adults 18-49

"ABC's The Lookout" Grows Week to Week and Improves its Hour Year to Year

The Season Finale of "Motive" is the Most-Watched TV Show in its Time Slot,
Drawing the ABC Sophomore Drama's Biggest Audience Since the End of July

"Rookie Blue" is the Top Draw in Thursday's 10pm Hour for its 8th Straight Telecast

"Shark Tank" is Up on Friday in Adults 18-49 and Tops its Year-Ago Telecast by 22%

"20/20" Earns its Highest Numbers in 10 Weeks with Viewers and Key Adults

ABC's Season Premiere of "Saturday Night Football" Dominates the Night with
Its Most-Watched Opener in 7 Years and its Best-Ever Start with Adults 18-49

Week No. 49

Posting its top-rated week since mid-June, ABC finished No. 1 during the final week of the summer among Adults 18-49 (1.2/4-tie). ABC's "Saturday Night Football" scored the franchise's strongest-ever season premiere to rank as the week's highest-rated broadcast program with young adults. "20/20" stood as the week's No. 1 newsmagazine in Adults 18-49. Building week to week with viewers (+5% - 4.3 million vs. 4.1 million) and young adults (+20% - 1.2/4 vs. 1.0/3), the Network delivered 10-week highs on both Nielsen measures - since w/o 6/17/13.

Summer 2013 (14 complete weeks - Memorial Day to Labor Day): ABC finished as the No. 1 network this summer among Adults 18-49 (1.5/5 - tied with NBC), leading Fox by 7% (1.4/4) and CBS by 25% (1.2/4). ABC was up summer to summer in Total Viewers (+4% - 5.0 million vs. 4.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (+7% - 1.5/5 vs. 1.4/5), the only net to grow its young adult audience year to year.

Shifting back into the 9 o'clock hour for the first time, ABC's "Mistresses" grew over the prior week by 9% in viewers (3.5 million vs. 3.2 million) and by 11% in Adults 18-49 (1.0/3 vs. 0.9/3). Season to date, the ABC freshman drama delivers an extremely upscale audience (index of 148), pulling in 48% higher numbers with Adults 18-49 in homes earning $150k+ annual income to make it the summer's top indexing broadcast drama. In addition, "Mistresses" is posting the biggest percentage gains via TV playback for any summer broadcast series, jumping 58% from its initially-reported Live + Same Day Adult 18-49 number to its final Live +7 Day rating (growing from a 1.2 rating to a 1.9 rating).

"Castle" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

Returning to Monday's 10:00 p.m. hour for the first time since the end of the season in May, ABC's encore "Castle" drew 88% more overall viewers than NBC's original "Siberia" in the time slot (3.2 million vs. 1.7 million). "Castle" increased from its year-ago broadcast in the hour by 3% in Total Viewers (3.1 million on 8/27/12).

Wednesday

"ABC's The Lookout" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

Building on its lead-in during Wednesday's 10 o'clock hour, "ABC's The Lookout" was up week to week in Total Viewers (+14% - 3.3 million vs. 2.9 million) and Adults 25-54 (+11% - 1.0/3 vs. 0.9/3).

· The ABC newsmagazine improved the hour by wide margins from the year-ago night with original programming ("Vote 2012: Republican National Convention" = 2.6 million, 0.5/2 and 0.7/2), gaining 27% in Total Viewers, 40% in Adults 18-49 and 43% in Adults 25-54.

Thursday

With the season finale of "Motive" into "Rookie Blue," ABC qualified as the most-watched TV network on Thursday night by 15% over its nearest competition (4.6 million vs. 4.0 million - CBS).

"Motive" (8:00-10:01 p.m.)

At 8:00 p.m., ABC's 2-hour season finale of "Motive" (4.72 million) stood as the most-watched TV program in its time period.

The 8th season premiere of "Saturday Night Football" (Georgia at Clemson) made ABC the No. 1 TV network on Saturday evening in Total Viewers (7.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.8/11). Winning Saturday night for the 2nd week in a row, ABC beat the other major networks combined (CBS, NBC, and Fox) by 65% in Adults 18-49 (2.8/11 vs. 1.7/6).

· ABC's "Saturday Night Football" easily qualified as the night's No. 1 TV show among Total Viewers (8.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.1/12). In fact, ABC claimed the No. 1 program on Saturday for the 2nd week in a row in both viewers and young adults.